It’s a washout: rain ruins the holiday but drought drags on

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May, 3, makes the most of a wet and deserted beach in Lyme Regis, DorsetMatt Austin

Tom WhippleScience Correspondent

Last updated at 12:01AM, April 10 2012

It has been one of the driest winters on record. Much of the country is in drought. The hosepipe ban is days old. So the arrival of the first Bank Holiday Monday of spring could mean only one thing: flood warnings.

Forty millimetres (1.5in) of rain fell yesterday in parts of Wales. In just one day East Anglia experienced half as much precipitation as it had in the whole of February. No part of the UK escaped the downpour entirely.

But while the heavy rain that spread across much of Britain soaked parched lawns and replenished depleted rivers, it also